Is your company lagging behind on Google’s search rankings? Are you frustrated that you’re putting out a great blog but it feels like no one is reading it? Then you’re probably considering hiring an SEO agency to take care of all your SEO needs.
But a big SEO agency might not always be the best fit. Local SEO services might be a better fit for your company.
Here’s everything you need to know.
1. Do They Know Your Niche?
The key to hiring a great SEO agency is knowing whether they understand your niche. For pages to rank highly on Google these days you need to be putting out well researched, valuable content not just generic blogs that contain certain keywords.
If your niche is in health then your blogs should be written by writers with scientific backgrounds who know their niche. A local SEO agency should be able to provide these for you and to pay them well. Equally, if your niche is about cross stitch then the writers the agency provides should have strong knowledge in this too.
If the agency isn’t upfront about who their writers are then they might be running a content farm where your content is written by writers unfamiliar with your niche. This is not good for your SEO ranking.
2. Will They Provide Value for Money?
Some SEO agencies cost the earth but don’t provide value for money. They rank you in keywords that don’t generate that much traffic while leaving you behind in keywords where the big money is.
You need to decide how much you are going to pay for SEO and what your intended results are. How much traffic do you want to drive to your site? Is your money better spent on other areas of marketing and advertising such as newspaper adverts and billboards?
In order to determine this, you need to determine what is worth paying for and what is not? Specialized writers are something that will boost the price of your SEO package considerably but they are valuable. Guest posting on loads of random newly-set-up websites, however, might not be that valuable.
Be sure to determine what local SEO tools your agency has at their disposal before you hire them.
3. Can you Contact Them in Person? By Phone?
The key to any great working relationship is communication. You need to know that you can communicate with your SEO agency. This is one of the key factors why choosing local SEO services might be a better option than a big agency firm.
At a local agency, you are more likely to be able to pick up the phone to a small group of people overseeing your blog and traffic for you. At a bigger agency, you are more likely to be anonymous and to be referred to a switchboard or placed on hold.
If you are using an agency that is close to you geographically you might be able to do most of your communication in-person. This is a much better option than emailing or speaking over the phone and can lead to a better long-term relationship that you will want going-forward.
4. Do They Offer Other Services?
It’s often helpful for you to have all of your marketing and advertising carried out by one company. This is because logistically you are not dealing with lots of different companies with different policies and competing agendas. It can also save you money to go all-in with one company.
Be sure to determine what your local SEO agency offers before you sign a contract with them.
Social Media
Social media complements blogging as it’s often used to drive traffic to the blog and the website. It’s not enough to set up a Facebook or Twitter account and simply just post your latest blog posts every week.
You need to make an impact and engage with your audience which you can do in a number of different ways: through humor, personal opinion, and giving the reader insider information about life in your business.
Social media can be time-consuming so it makes sense for an SEO agency or a specific social media marketing manager to manage this alongside your blog. They can coordinate the two and boost your followers.
Traditional Media Campaign
Combining SEO agency tools with a traditional media campaign with stories in national newspapers and TV appearances could also work well.
It will take a highly skilled agency that is able to combine this strand of marketing with SEO but it can be highly effective and worthy of your investment.
Local SEO Services Can Be Right For You
Should you use local SEO agency software or the services of a bigger agency? The answer depends on the type of content you are putting out and the kind of marketing you want to invest in.
If you want a targeted high-end campaign that also targets traditional newspapers and television, as well as SEO, then hiring a big agency that takes care of all of your marketing, could be valuable.
However, if you are specializing in a particular niche then using local SEO tools and a local agency could be a better move for you. With a local company you can talk to individuals rather than be sent to a switchboard and deal with a different person each time.
You might feel that you are offered personalized service and it will be easier to build a long-lasting relationship with a local SEO agency.
If you are interested in reading more about local SEO services, then be sure to check out the rest of our site.